NetElixir Releases Back-to-School Ecommerce Sales Data

According to an analysis of 80 million ecommerce sessions on mobile and desktop between July 27, 2017 and September 5, 2017, retail search marketing company NetElixir has found that overall ecommerce sales figures for the 2017 back-to-school season increased by 3% from the previous year....

According to an analysis of 80 million ecommerce sessions on mobile and desktop between July 27, 2017 and September 5, 2017, retail search marketing company NetElixir has found that overall ecommerce sales figures for the 2017 back-to-school season increased by 3% from the previous year.

NetElixir’s back-to-school data analyzed desktop and mobile shopping separately, and found a strong continuing trend of consumers using their mobile devices for their online shopping.

According to an emailed statement:

Desktop orders were down 3% and revenue increased by 2%. For mobile, orders were up by 44% and revenue was up by 64%. The study also found that average order value (AOV) for desktop purchases increased by 4%, while mobile AOV increased by 13%, indicating that consumers are now more comfortable using mobile devices for more expensive purchases. For the back-to-school season specifically, desktop AOV increased by $5 from $127 in 2016 to $132 in 2017, while mobile AOV increased by $13 from $96 in 2016 to $109 in 2017.

“Every year, the spend on mobile just keeps accelerating and we can confidently say that mobile sales percentage contribution will continue to increase. People are getting more comfortable making purchases directly on mobile devices, which means retailers need to be prepared to convert consumers on mobile,” continued Bose. “The good news is that the gap between average order value on desktop and mobile is decreasing. Historically, this gap has been about 30 – 35%. With our back-to-school data, we see this gap coming down to under 15%, which means that the trend to spend less on mobile is waning.”